Barcelona back on top, Chelsea punish Arsenal
Sunday, January 24, 2016
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Barcelona returned to the Liga summit on a weekend when Juventus posted an 11th consecutive Serie A win, Chelsea beat Arsenal and Bayern München triumphed.
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SUNDAY
Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea (Costa 23)
The Gunners slipped three points behind new Premier League leaders Leicester City after being reduced to ten men with just 18 minutes gone, Per Mertesacker seeing red for bringing down Diego Costa. The Chelsea striker turned in a Branislav Ivanović cross shortly afterwards, and the Blues resisted second-half pressure to climb up to 13th as the likes of Mesut Özil, making his 100th Arsenal appearance, and substitute Alexis Sánchez – back from injury – toiled in vain.
Juventus 1-0 Roma (Dybala 77)
There is no stopping Juventus at the moment after Paulo Dybala's sixth goal in seven Serie A matches sealed an 11th consecutive league triumph for the defending champions. The former Palermo forward made the most of a Paul Pogba pass to keep Juve within two points of table-topping Napoli – and leave Roma 12 points off first place with just one win from 12 games in all competitions.
Atlético Madrid 0-0 Sevilla
Dropping into second spot after Barcelona's win at Málaga on Saturday, Diego Simeone's side failed to find a way past ten-man Sevilla, who lost Vitolo to a sending-off on 62 minutes. Antoine Griezmann's header against a post was the Colchoneros' best chance, meaning they will head into Saturday's trip to Barcelona trailing the Liga pacesetters on goal difference – and having played one game more.
Real Betis 1-1 Real Madrid (Cejudo 7; Benzema 71)
Zinédine Zidane dropped points for the first time in his third assignment as Madrid coach, and it could have been even worse after an excellent early volley from Betis midfielder Álvaro Cejudo. Missing Gareth Bale due to a calf injury, the visitors finally responded when James Rodríguez set up Karim Benzema for his 17th Liga strike of the campaign, the Merengues falling four points behind Barcelona and Atlético in third.
Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 Wolfsburg (Meier 67 73 90; Dante 25, Schürrle 79)
Wolfsburg's return to Bundesliga action did not herald an upturn in their fortunes as they succumbed to a last-minute loss at Eintracht, leaving them without a victory in their last five league outings. Dante put the visitors in front, but an Alexander Meier hat-trick ultimately settled the game as the Wolves ended the weekend in seventh.
PSV Eindhoven 4-2 Twente (Moreno 21 23, Narsingh 37, Jozefzoon 79; Oosterwijk 8, Ede 70)
PSV kept themselves within three points of Eredivisie leaders Ajax thanks to a comeback success in which Jetro Willems made his first appearance this term following a knee injury. Phillip Cocu's charges fell behind after eight minutes, but a pair of quickfire headers from Héctor Moreno turned the game around before Luciano Narsingh and Florian Jozefzoon helped secure the points.
Standard Liège 0-3 Gent(Depoitre 49, Kums 55, Dejaegere 70)
Having beaten Anderlecht and Belgian Cup semi-final opponents Club Brugge in their last two games, Gent claimed another notable scalp. All three goals came after the break, Brecht Dejaegere capping the victory with a header, as the Buffalos stayed strong at the top of the table.
Qatari Armed Forces 0-3 Zenit (Dzuyba 25, Hulk 34 61pen)
Originally scheduled to take on Sudanese champions Al Merrikha, Zenit ended their training camp in Doha with a last-minute change of opponents. They were anything but fazed, though, Artem Dzyuba scoring from a tight angle before Hulk helped himself to a double, his second coming from the spot.
Jiangu Sining 0-2 Dynamo Kyiv (Rybalka 32, Silva 35)
Serhiy Rebrov's men enjoyed a friendly success against their Chinese opponents in Marbella, Spain, courtesy of two first-half efforts. Ukrainian international Serhiy Rybalka got the ball rolling and Brazilian defender Danilo Silva doubled the lead shortly after, with Dynamo now set for further games against 1860 München on Monday and Slavia Praha on Wednesday.
SATURDAY
Málaga 1-2 Barcelona (Juanpi 32; El Haddadi 2, Messi 52)
Having missed the midweek Copa del Rey success at Athletic through injury, Lionel Messi made a goalscoring return to send Barça to the head of the Liga table. Munir El Haddadi struck the opener for the title holders inside 70 seconds and Juanpi restored parity, before Messi buried a close-range volley to grab his 14th goal in 13 outings. As a result, Luis Enrique's team moved ahead of Atlético on goal difference, with a game in hand.
West Ham United 2-2 Manchester City (Valencia 1 56; Agüero 9pen 81)
City finished the weekend ahead of Arsenal on goal difference after Sergio Agüero registered a double for the second week running, the Argentina forward rescuing a draw for the visitors. Manuel Pellegrini's charges now find themselves three points behind Premier League leaders Leicester.
Paris Saint-Germain 5-1 Angers (Ibrahimović 32, Lucas 40, Van der Wiel 54, Di María 62 66; Capelle 59)
The champions extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to 31 matches and equalled a club record in the process with their 11th consecutive victory in all competitions. Top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimović plundered his 17th strike in the top flight this season as Paris kept themselves 21 points clear of second-placed Monaco.
Benfica 3-1 Arouca (Pizzi 3, Mitroglou 19, Jonas 67; Velázquez 90)
The Eagles remain within two points of Portuguese frontrunners Sporting CP after recording an eighth successive victory in all competitions. Pizzi hit his fourth goal in his last four league contests, Kostas Mitroglou struck for the third championship game running and Jonas sealed the victory with his 19th Liga effort.
FRIDAY
Hamburg 1-2 Bayern München (Alonso 53og; Lewandowski 37p, 61)
Bayern opened up an 11-point cushion with a hard-fought away win before second-placed Dortmund reduced the gap to eight points 24 hours later. Robert Lewandowski gave the visitors the lead via a spot kick in their first game after the winter break, but the hosts levelled when Aaron Hunt's inswinging free-kick was touched past his own goalkeeper by Xabi Alonso. However, eight minutes later, Lewandowski's 50th competitive goal for the German champions proved decisive.